Cisco announced on Jan. 26, 2012 a field replacement program for Cisco UCS B440 Blade Servers. Cisco Field Notice FN – 63430 describes the problem as a failure of a MOSFET, or Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor, power transistor on the blade server that can cause the component to overheat and emit a short flash which could lead to complete board failure. According to Cisco.com, Cisco is directly contacting UCS B440 Blade Server customers and will replace UCS B440 Blade Servers currently deployed at customer sites. Cisco is making UCS B440 Blade Server hardware modifications, and a hardware replacement program has been launched.

Kevin Houston is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of BladesMadeSimple.com. He has over 15 years of experience in the x86 server marketplace. Since 1997 Kevin has worked at several resellers in the Atlanta area, and has a vast array of competitive x86 server knowledge and certifications as well as an in-depth understanding of VMware and Citrix virtualization. Kevin works for Dell as a Server Specialist covering the Global 500 East market.

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An unfortunate flaw. Good to see the info published & a fix offered, though. I also see a backhanded compliment for Cisco: their installed base has grown so large that they can’t avoid making issues like this public.

From the Notice: “In extreme circumstances it could affect the other blades in the chassis by disrupting power flow.” I’m sure the risk is miniscule, but it’s an interesting warning. I wonder if the power distruption would come from the “thermal event” (e.g. a fire that burns chassis components), or whether a short-circuiting blade can trip the chassis power supplies.

It looks like a very expensive recall to Cisco.
Is there any action that a customer needs to take before gets his Blade replaced?

http://twitter.com/soaringpil8 Chris Barrett

Your account team should have already contacted any customers w/B440’s. If you have not been contacted then please call them ASAP. New blades will be sent to existing customers when available at NO cost to them.